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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor Type Ia Localization Causes Increased Bmp2 Signaling In Mice Exhibiting Increased Peak Bone Mass Phenotype., Beth Bragdon, Jeremy Bonor, Kathryn L Shultz, Wesley G Beamer, Clifford J Rosen, Anja Nohe Jan 2016

Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor Type Ia Localization Causes Increased Bmp2 Signaling In Mice Exhibiting Increased Peak Bone Mass Phenotype., Beth Bragdon, Jeremy Bonor, Kathryn L Shultz, Wesley G Beamer, Clifford J Rosen, Anja Nohe

Clifford J Shultz

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) is a growth factor that initiates osteoblast differentiation. Recent studies show that BMP2 signaling regulates bone mineral density (BMD). BMP2 interacts with BMP receptor type Ia (BMPRIa) and type II receptor leading to the activation of the Smad signaling pathway. BMPRIa must shuttle between distinct plasma membrane domains, enriched of Caveolin-1 alpha and Caveolin-1 beta isoforms, and receptor activation occurs in these domains. Yet it remains unknown whether the molecular mechanism that regulates BMP2 signaling is driving mineralization and BMD. Therefore, the B6.C3H-1-12 congenic mouse model with increased BMD and osteoblast mineralization was utilized in …


Tale-Family Homeodomain Proteins Regulate Endodermal Sonic Hedgehog Expression And Pattern The Anterior Endoderm, Philip Diiorio, Kristen Alexa, Seong-Kyu Choe, Letitiah Etheridge, Charles Sagerstrom Mar 2012

Tale-Family Homeodomain Proteins Regulate Endodermal Sonic Hedgehog Expression And Pattern The Anterior Endoderm, Philip Diiorio, Kristen Alexa, Seong-Kyu Choe, Letitiah Etheridge, Charles Sagerstrom

Philip J diIorio Jr

sonic hedgehog (shh) is expressed in anterior endoderm, where it is required to repress pancreas gene expression and to pattern the endoderm, but the pathway controlling endodermal shh expression is unclear. We find that expression of meis3, a TALE class homeodomain gene, coincides with shh expression in the endoderm of zebrafish embryos. Using a dominant negative construct or anti-sense morpholino oligos (MOs) to disrupt meis3 function, we observe ectopic insulin expression in anterior endoderm. This phenotype is also observed when meis3 MOs are targeted to the endoderm, suggesting that meis3 acts within the endoderm to restrict insulin expression. We also …


Identification Of Cytoplasmic Residues Of Sec61p Involved In Ribosome Binding And Cotranslational Translocation, Zhiliang Cheng, Ying Jiang, Elisabet Mandon, Reid Gilmore Feb 2012

Identification Of Cytoplasmic Residues Of Sec61p Involved In Ribosome Binding And Cotranslational Translocation, Zhiliang Cheng, Ying Jiang, Elisabet Mandon, Reid Gilmore

Elisabet Mandon

The cytoplasmic surface of Sec61p is the binding site for the ribosome and has been proposed to interact with the signal recognition particle receptor during targeting of the ribosome nascent chain complex to the translocation channel. Point mutations in cytoplasmic loops six (L6) and eight (L8) of yeast Sec61p cause reductions in growth rates and defects in the translocation of nascent polypeptides that use the cotranslational translocation pathway. Sec61 heterotrimers isolated from the L8 sec61 mutants have a greatly reduced affinity for 80S ribosomes. Cytoplasmic accumulation of protein precursors demonstrates that the initial contact between the large ribosomal subunit and …


Purification Of The Golgi Adenosine 3'-Phosphate 5'-Phosphosulfate Transporter, A Homodimer Within The Membrane, Elisabet Mandon, Marcos Milla, Ellis Kempner, Carlos Hirschberg Feb 2012

Purification Of The Golgi Adenosine 3'-Phosphate 5'-Phosphosulfate Transporter, A Homodimer Within The Membrane, Elisabet Mandon, Marcos Milla, Ellis Kempner, Carlos Hirschberg

Elisabet Mandon

Sulfation of proteoglycans, secretory and membrane proteins, and glycolipids occurs in the lumen of the Golgi apparatus. Adenosine 3'-phosphate 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS), the sulfate donor in these reactions, must be transported from the cytosol, its site of synthesis, into the lumen of the Golgi apparatus. We have identified and purified to apparent homogeneity the rat liver Golgi membrane PAPS transporter by a combination of conventional and affinity chromatography as well as photoaffinity radiolabeling with adenosine 3',5'-bisphosphate, a competitive inhibitor of PAPS transport. The transporter, a 75-kDa protein, was purified 70,000-fold over homogenate (6% yield) and transported PAPS into phosphatidylcholine liposomes selectively …


Mutant Rac1b Expression In Dictyostelium: Effects On Morphology, Growth, Endocytosis, Development, And The Actin Cytoskeleton, S. Palmieri, Thomas Nebl, Robert Pope, D. Seastone, E. Lee, E. Hinchcliffe, Greenfield Sluder, D. Knecht, J. Cardelli, Elizabeth Luna Mar 2008

Mutant Rac1b Expression In Dictyostelium: Effects On Morphology, Growth, Endocytosis, Development, And The Actin Cytoskeleton, S. Palmieri, Thomas Nebl, Robert Pope, D. Seastone, E. Lee, E. Hinchcliffe, Greenfield Sluder, D. Knecht, J. Cardelli, Elizabeth Luna

Elizabeth J. Luna

Rac1 is a small G-protein in the Ras superfamily that has been implicated in the control of cell growth, adhesion, and the actin-based cytoskeleton. To investigate the role of Rac1 during motile processes, we have established Dictyostelium cell lines that conditionally overexpress epitope-tagged Dictyostelium discoideum wild-type Rac1B (DdRac1B) or a mutant DdRac1B protein. Expression of endogenous levels of myc- or GFP-tagged wild-type DdRac1B had minimal effect on cellular morphologies and behaviors. By contrast, expression of a constitutively active mutant (G12-->V or Q61-->L) or a dominant negative mutant (T17-->N) generated amoebae with characteristic cellular defects. The morphological appearance …


Merlin Differs From Moesin In Binding To F-Actin And In Its Intra- And Intermolecular Interactions, L. Huang, E. Ichimaru, Kersi Pestonjamasp, X. Cui, H. Nakamura, G. Lo, F. Lin, Elizabeth Luna, H. Furthmayr Mar 2008

Merlin Differs From Moesin In Binding To F-Actin And In Its Intra- And Intermolecular Interactions, L. Huang, E. Ichimaru, Kersi Pestonjamasp, X. Cui, H. Nakamura, G. Lo, F. Lin, Elizabeth Luna, H. Furthmayr

Elizabeth J. Luna

The neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) tumor suppressor gene encodes merlin, a protein with homology to the cell membrane/F-actin linking proteins, moesin, ezrin and radixin. Unlike these closely related proteins, merlin lacks a C-terminal F-actin binding site detectable by actin blot overlays, and the GFP-tagged merlin C-terminal domain co-distributes with neither stress fibers nor cortical actin in NIH3T3 cells. Merlin also differs from the other three proteins in its inter- and intramolecular domain interactions, as shown by in vitro binding and yeast two-hybrid assays. As is true for ezrin, moesin and radixin, the N- and C-terminal domains of merlin type 1 …


A Stable, High Capacity, F-Actin Affinity Column, Elizabeth Luna, Y. Wang, E. Voss, D. Branton, D. Taylor Mar 2008

A Stable, High Capacity, F-Actin Affinity Column, Elizabeth Luna, Y. Wang, E. Voss, D. Branton, D. Taylor

Elizabeth J. Luna

A high capacity F-actin affinity matrix is constructed by binding fluorescyl-actin to rabbit anti-fluorescein IgG that is covalently bound to Sepharose 4B. When stabilized with phalloidin, the actin remains associated with the Sepharose beads during repeated washes, activates the ATPase activity of myosin subfragment 1, and specifically binds 125I-heavy meromyosin and 125I-tropomyosin. The associations between the F-actin affinity matrix and the iodinated F-actin binding proteins are monitored both by affinity chromatography and by a rapid, low speed sedimentation assay. Anti-fluorescein IgG-Sepharose should be generally useful as a matrix for the immobilization of proteins containing accessible, covalently bound fluorescein groups.


F-Actin And Myosin Ii Binding Domains In Supervillin, Yu Chen, Norio Takizawa, Jessica Crowley, Sang Oh, Cheryl Gatto, Taketoshi Kambara, Osamu Sato, Xiang-Dong Li, Mitsuo Ikebe, Elizabeth Luna Mar 2008

F-Actin And Myosin Ii Binding Domains In Supervillin, Yu Chen, Norio Takizawa, Jessica Crowley, Sang Oh, Cheryl Gatto, Taketoshi Kambara, Osamu Sato, Xiang-Dong Li, Mitsuo Ikebe, Elizabeth Luna

Elizabeth J. Luna

Detergent-resistant membranes contain signaling and integral membrane proteins that organize cholesterol-rich domains called lipid rafts. A subset of these detergent-resistant membranes (DRM-H) exhibits a higher buoyant density ( approximately 1.16 g/ml) because of association with membrane skeleton proteins, including actin, myosin II, myosin 1G, fodrin, and an actin- and membrane-binding protein called supervillin (Nebl, T., Pestonjamasp, K. N., Leszyk, J. D., Crowley, J. L., Oh, S. W., and Luna, E. J. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 43399-43409). To characterize interactions among DRM-H cytoskeletal proteins, we investigated the binding partners of the novel supervillin N terminus, specifically amino acids 1-830. We …


Membrane Cytoskeleton: Pip(2) Pulls The Strings, Thomas Nebl, Sang Oh, Elizabeth Luna Mar 2008

Membrane Cytoskeleton: Pip(2) Pulls The Strings, Thomas Nebl, Sang Oh, Elizabeth Luna

Elizabeth J. Luna

A recent application of optical tweezers has shown that plasma membrane phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)) levels control adhesion of the membrane bilayer to the underlying cytoskeleton, by regulated direct binding of PIP(2) to cytoskeletal proteins and/or indirect effects on cytoskeleton structure.